How is John Ellis not in the Hall of Fame?

While we were watching the Boys U18 Singles final at the USA Racquetball (USAR) Junior Championships in Des Moines, Iowa on Sunday, which was a great match and you can check it out via the USA Racquetball Livestream channel, the commentator mentioned that the finalists Timmy Hansen and Julius Ellis are sons of former elite players: Tim Hansen and John Ellis, respectively. And in passing it was mentioned that Mr. Hansen is in the USAR Hall of Fame.

That made us think “wait, isn't John Ellis in the Hall of Fame?’ Which led us to “HOW IS JOHN ELLIS NOT IN THE HALL OF FAME???”

This is no disrespect to Mr Hansen, who seems fully deserving of being in the Hall of Fame, and was a Team USA member who won gold in Men’s Doubles (with Jim Floyd) at the 1991 Tournament of the Americas (Pan American Championships). But if the Hansen and Ellis fathers were to face off - as someone suggested in a comment on the boys match - we know who we’re betting on every day, and twice on Sundays, and it’s not Hansen.

John Ellis was in the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) top 10 for 10 straight seasons (1993-94 to 2002-03) including five consecutive seasons as the #3 player, which was generally behind two guys (Sudsy Monchik & Cliff Swain) who are both in the conversation for the best men’s player ever. Over his career, Ellis won 8 IRT titles and was runner up 18 times.

Ellis also was the US National Singles Champion in 1993, and won three US National Doubles titles: in 1991 and 1993 with Eric Muller and 2003 with Adam Karp. He won gold with Team USA in Men’s Singles at the 1995 Pan American Games.

If that’s not enough, Ellis has also run a very successful racquetball program in Stockton, California, which has produced several elite level players.

All of that begs the question: How is John Ellis not in the Hall of Fame?

Follow the bouncing ball….